Chapter 156: An Unfortunate Girl (3)
The entire drive back home was filled with nothing but heavy silence inside the car.
Except for the truly necessary words, neither of them spoke at all.
If they had gone straight to their separate homes after arriving in Seoul, the awkwardness might have eased a little—but Hong Soo-yeon paid no attention to the tension and simply followed Kim Si-woo into his house.
“I’m back.”
Kim Si-woo said the words out of habit as he entered. Arimura Noa, who was inside, immediately responded.
“What the hell? You were gone for a whole week?”
“I said I’d be away for a few days.”
“Yeah, but still… more importantly, why does her face look like that…?”
Arimura Noa noticed something off about Hong Soo-yeon right away and began pressuring Kim Si-woo.
“Did something happen between you two?”
“What do you mean ‘something’…”
“Something did happen!”
“Nothing happened.”
“It totally did.”
Arimura Noa followed Kim Si-woo all the way into his room, pestering him relentlessly.
“I’m going to change clothes, so get out.”
In the end, she was chased out of the room.
But even from outside the door, she shouted loudly enough for him to hear.
—What happened?! Tell me!!!
“Why is she so persistent…?”
After changing, Kim Si-woo stepped out and shook his head at the sight of Arimura Noa still waiting right by the door.
Judging by her expression, she clearly wasn’t going to stop following him until she got the full story.
“Don’t you have work?”
“I’m off today.”
“How long are you planning to tail me?”
“Until you tell me what happened.”
“Sigh… fine, come with me.”
In the end, Kim Si-woo took Arimura Noa up to the rooftop.
“So? What happened?”
“We just drank and… there was a little mistake.”
“Huh? No way…”
“Not what you’re imagining, so don’t misunderstand. We only kissed.”
“…”
At Kim Si-woo’s words, Arimura Noa pouted and grumbled unhappily.
“You drank a lot with me too, didn’t you?”
“Yeah?”
“So why didn’t you kiss me?”
“I’m not the kind of person who kisses just anyone when I’m drunk.”
Though his conscience stung a little, Kim Si-woo denied it anyway.
“Is it really that big a deal if our lips just touch for a second?”
“…Anyway, stop thinking weird things. I’ve said what I needed to say, so I’m heading back down first.”
Kim Si-woo quickly left the rooftop. Arimura Noa stayed behind, lost in deep thought.
When he came back down from the roof, Hong Soo-yeon was waiting for him in the living room this time.
“Oppa. Can I look at the script now?”
“Uh… yeah.”
After their short, awkward exchange, Hong Soo-yeon immediately went to get her script.
Once inside her room, she opened it—but the words on the page refused to enter her mind.
“Sigh… I’m seriously crazy. And why is oppa acting like nothing happened?”
The fact that Kim Si-woo seemed completely unaffected after kissing her stirred up emotions she had never felt before.
Every time she tried to focus on the script, his face would pop into her head and she’d close it again.
Hours passed like that until Kim Si-woo’s voice called from outside.
—Soo-yeon-ah. What do you want for dinner?
Even though Kim Si-woo had asked, Hong Soo-yeon didn’t feel confident enough to eat with him right now.
Her mind was already filled with thoughts of him—if they ate together too, she was sure she wouldn’t get any script work done tonight.
“I’m okay. I’m not hungry right now…”
—Really? Okay then.
After turning down Kim Si-woo’s offer, Hong Soo-yeon opened the script again.
“Get it together. You haven’t even memorized the whole thing yet.”
Meanwhile, when Hong Soo-yeon said she wasn’t eating dinner, Arimura Noa seized the opportunity.
“Writer-nim, how about chicken tonight? Deal?”
“Sure, why not?”
Arimura Noa quickly ordered two delicious-looking chickens through a delivery app.
Not long after, the chicken arrived—still hot and freshly fried.
“Shall we eat?”
“Wait a second.”
Arimura Noa went to the fridge, took out two cans of beer, and placed them on the table.
“Chicken and beer are the perfect match.”
She smiled brightly.
Just yesterday, Kim Si-woo—who had made a mistake after drinking—didn’t even glance at the beer.
“What? You’re not going to drink with me?”
“Why do you keep saying things like that all of a sudden…?”
“Fine. I’ll just drink it all by myself.”
Arimura Noa took a bite of chicken, followed by a swig of beer, and quickly emptied the can.
“Khaaah~ As expected, chicken and beer are the best match. By the way, it looks like there was some progress after all.”
“Huh?”
“Soo-yeon. Her expressions have gotten a lot richer.”
“Really?”
Kim Si-woo hadn’t noticed at all, but as a fellow woman, Arimura Noa had clearly picked up on the change in Hong Soo-yeon.
“Maybe she won’t even need my help anymore.”
“I hope that’s the case.”
Hearing the good news, Kim Si-woo smiled and spoke. Arimura Noa pouted in response.
“That’s unfair.”
“What is now?”
“That smile. You should smile like that more often.”
“…”
Now even his smile was something she complained about. Kim Si-woo looked at her in disbelief.
***
Alone in her room, Hong Soo-yeon kept getting distracted by Arimura Noa’s laughter coming from the living room.
Whether she went out or stayed in, her mind was a mess.
“What on earth are they talking about that she’s laughing so much…?”
She couldn’t hear Kim Si-woo’s laughter, but Hong Soo-yeon wasn’t in the right state of mind to judge rationally.
“I’m hungry… and it’s bothering me… What should I do?”
After agonizing over it again and again, Hong Soo-yeon finally stepped out of her room.
One step at a time.
When she quietly entered the living room, she saw Arimura Noa drinking beer and Kim Si-woo sitting across from her.
The moment she saw them together, Hong Soo-yeon’s chest felt like a red-hot piece of iron had been dropped into it.
Hot, throbbing—this emotion was jealousy.
Hong Soo-yeon recognized it as jealousy, but she couldn’t fully grasp its intensity. As usual, she hid her feelings, forced a bitter smile, and walked over to Kim Si-woo’s side.
“Are you guys eating chicken?”
“Huh? Want some? Should I order another one?”
When Kim Si-woo saw her, he asked if she wanted him to order more chicken.
“No, it’s okay. Can I just have some of this?”
“Uh… sure, go ahead.”
Her demeanor was noticeably different from when she had gone into her room earlier. Kim Si-woo spoke with concern in his voice.
“Did something happen?”
“…”
At his question, Hong Soo-yeon’s throat tightened.
It’s all because of you.
She wanted to scream that it was because he was laughing and talking so happily with another woman…
But of course, she couldn’t.
“No, it’s nothing… I’ll just take some chicken on a plate. Don’t mind me—keep talking, you two.”
Kim Si-woo thought it was because he had kissed her—her first kiss—and then acted so ambiguously afterward.
Technically, she had been the one to kiss him.
“Noa-ssi, hold on a second.”
“Hm? Ah… sure.”
Arimura Noa noticed Kim Si-woo was about to follow Hong Soo-yeon and quietly let him go.
Kim Si-woo followed Hong Soo-yeon into her room and grabbed the sleeve of her shirt.
“Soo-yeon-ah. Let’s talk.”
“Talk about what?”
Her tone was sharp.
It was the first time Kim Si-woo had ever heard her speak to him like that.
“If it’s about what happened yesterday…”
“It’s fine… It was my fault anyway. I know you don’t feel anything for me.”
Suddenly, all the emotions bottled up inside Hong Soo-yeon’s chest began to overflow.
“But how can you just act like nothing happened?! Huh? I’m the one burning up inside like this…!”
The emotions that had been spilling out in drops soon turned into a massive flood.
“Just say it if you hate me. Because I’m young. Because I don’t have parents. Because I don’t have money!”
“Hong Soo-yeon!!!”
At Kim Si-woo’s sharp shout, Hong Soo-yeon flinched and looked up at his face in shock.
The expression she saw was one she had never seen before.
It was a complicated mix—anger, pity, guilt, and more—all blended into something indescribable.
“B-But…”
Hong Soo-yeon tried to say something after seeing his expression, but Kim Si-woo turned away.
“Let’s talk about it later.”
Seeing Kim Si-woo turn and walk away, Hong Soo-yeon reached out to grab him but quickly gave up.
No matter how much she thought about it, stopping him now would only make the situation even worse.
When Kim Si-woo disappeared from the house, Arimura Noa was just as flustered.
He had suddenly gone into Hong Soo-yeon’s room, raised his voice, then come out saying he’d be away from the house for a while.
And judging by how serious his expression had been, she could tell this wasn’t a trivial matter.
Arimura Noa headed straight to Hong Soo-yeon’s room to figure out what had happened—and there she found Hong Soo-yeon crying.
“What in the world happened…?”
“Unnie… what should I do…?”
After Kim Si-woo left, the two women sat facing each other and began to talk.
Hong Soo-yeon explained everything that had happened during the trip with Kim Si-woo—how things had ended up this way, and how it was all her fault.
“Ah…”
Seeing her like this, Arimura Noa—who couldn’t treat it like someone else’s problem—hugged her tightly.
She herself had been rejected by Kim Si-woo before, and Hong Soo-yeon was only twenty-one.
If she herself at twenty-one had confessed to Kim Si-woo and been rejected…
The emotional aftermath would probably have been just as overwhelming as it was for Hong Soo-yeon now.
“It’s okay.”
While Arimura Noa comforted her, Kim Si-woo—who had left the house—was feeling guilty about raising his voice at Hong Soo-yeon. To sort out his thoughts and check on how <Peerless Joseon> was doing, he headed to a movie theater.
“What a great thing to do… yelling at a kid… Anyway, how’s the movie performing?”
Kim Si-woo looked at the theater listings and saw <Peerless Joseon> at the very top. He bought a ticket for the next showing and entered the auditorium when it was time.
The action film from America was genuinely entertaining.
In terms of direction and story alone, it had plenty of elements that could make it a hit.
But the problem was that, for Korean audiences, this level of stimulation had already become boring.
After the movie ended and he stepped outside, Kim Si-woo began walking back toward home—when a familiar voice called from behind.
“Writer-nim?”
He turned at the familiar voice and saw Kim Ji-hyun standing there, wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a mask.
Even with all that covering her face, her tall stature and slender figure were impossible to hide.
“Ji-hyun-ssi? What are you doing here?”
“No, what are you doing here? I come here often because watching movies is my hobby…”
“I’m just… sorting out some thoughts.”
“Sorting out thoughts? Is something bothering you?”
But their conversation didn’t last long.
They could feel people passing by whispering and glancing in their direction.
Even with her face hidden, Kim Ji-hyun’s height and figure were more than enough to draw attention.
“Should we move somewhere else first?”
“Ah… yes.”
Kim Ji-hyun had also noticed the stares and followed Kim Si-woo’s suggestion.
The two left the theater, got into Kim Si-woo’s car, and headed to a quiet nearby café.
“You came alone without your manager?”
“Come on, who brings their manager to watch a movie?”
“Well… that’s true, I guess.”
“So what’s going on?”
Kim Si-woo hesitated over whether to tell her or not.
Though Kim Ji-hyun and Hong Soo-yeon weren’t especially close, they did know each other.
“Just… feeling a bit tired lately.”
“Hmm… that’s a lie.”
“Huh?”
“You know you’re terrible at lying, right? It’s written all over your face. How have you not changed at all?”
“Sigh…”
Caught in the lie, Kim Si-woo let out an embarrassed sigh.
“Looks like it’s something hard to talk about. I want to help, but…”
“It’s okay. It’s all my own karma anyway. Just hearing you say that is enough.”
“Then… is it okay if I comfort you?”
“Yeah… sure.”
But the comfort Kim Ji-hyun offered was very different from what Kim Si-woo had expected.
**************
TL Note:
This novel is now translated and finished at Chapter 176
If you’d like to continue right away, the remaining chapters are available on My Patreon Premium tier and Plus Tier, but if you want to read my other 5 translated novels, join the Premium Tier
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Genius Writer”
**************